For this tank, I decided to go with fishing line because of a bottom lighting concept I may use.

Feel free to follow me on Instagram. I only use this account for fish related stuff. Here is me messing with placement of the rock. The magnification made it a challenge.

Step One – Constructing the Lid

I wanted to make this as simple as possible. I had some old acrylic laying around from past projects that I was able to use.

Goals for the base lid:

Lower than opening edge for evaporation and air stone

Minimize light distortion

Easy to handle

Measuring and cutting acrylic is pretty straight forward. I don’t have a lot of room to work with as we only have a small patio. I use a piece of MDF board as a work “table”, an old weight as a counter balance, and 1-inch clamps to hold the acrylic in place.

Obviously, my neighbors in the courtyard love me.

Step Two – Raising and Mounting the Rocks

Here is what I wanted accomplished:

Option to remove rocks at any time

Adjustable tilt/angle and some positioning

Mounting system unseen

There was really no easy way to do this. I did not want small hooks hanging from the ceiling or from the rocks, so I put the hooks on top of the lid with holes for the line to come through.

The hooks I made from small tabs of acrylic that I bent using a heat gun.

I used three knots: fisherman’s knot, duncan loop knot, modified cinch knot. Fishermans and Duncan to tie onto the rocks. Cinch knot to allow adjustment for suspension length. The absolute hardest part of this is getting the cinch knot at the correct length while leaving some room for adjustment.

I decided to leave the biggest rock on the bottom for now. I can hang it or use acrylic rods in the future.

Raised Temperature of 86F – Bacteria populate faster in higher temps. Since I have nothing else in here besides bacteria, I figured I should cater to them

Higher oxygenation – Did not expect the amount of flow an air pump makes!

Established LR – Introduced some rubble from the back of my IM10.

Bacteria Supplement – Added some canned bacteria to give it a bump start

Week 0 Achievements

This was a busy weekend for the pico.

Build lid

Hang the islands

Set up heater, inkbird, air pump & light/timer

Add some SW, LR rubble and bacteria

I figured I could put some fails in a weekly format. Hope to not have so many once the pico is established, but who knows. The cat is always lurking around.

Lid construction – I made the tabs a bit too short on the lid so it can actually fall into the vase. I don't know how many times I dropped the lid while trying to mount the islands.

Aquascaping in a vase – The magnification! I did not expect it to be this difficult. The smallest piece of rock in my tank is maybe 1” x .5” AND it looks huge in the tank! Definitely going to have to cut up the 3rd rock to make it look smaller even though it is fairly small.

Cat Encounters!

It is only a matter of time now that the tank is up. I plan to keep a close eye on Floki and the tank. I will keep you all posted.

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I like it. I'm wondering about leather in one of these picos because it's sort of known for chemical warfare. I want someone to do it, I just don't want to be first!

I have a neon green toadstool in my jar without any issues so far. Everything is getting along.

21 hours ago, SaltyBuddha said:

Week 0 Update

The pico officially started cycling on 10/22/17!

I am implementing a few things to cycle the tank faster

Raised Temperature of 86F – Bacteria populate faster in higher temps. Since I have nothing else in here besides bacteria, I figured I should cater to them

Higher oxygenation – Did not expect the amount of flow an air pump makes!

Established LR – Introduced some rubble from the back of my IM10.

Bacteria Supplement – Added some canned bacteria to give it a bump start

Week 0 Achievements

This was a busy weekend for the pico.

Build lid

Hang the islands

Set up heater, inkbird, air pump & light/timer

Add some SW, LR rubble and bacteria

I figured I could put some fails in a weekly format. Hope to not have so many once the pico is established, but who knows. The cat is always lurking around.

Lid construction – I made the tabs a bit too short on the lid so it can actually fall into the vase. I don't know how many times I dropped the lid while trying to mount the islands.

Aquascaping in a vase – The magnification! I did not expect it to be this difficult. The smallest piece of rock in my tank is maybe 1” x .5” AND it looks huge in the tank! Definitely going to have to cut up the 3rd rock to make it look smaller even though it is fairly small.

Cat Encounters!

It is only a matter of time now that the tank is up. I plan to keep a close eye on Floki and the tank. I will keep you all posted.

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I have a neon green toadstool in my jar without any issues so far. Everything is getting along.

So awesome!!!!

Good to hear the toadstool is doing well. Mine is super tiny so I don't foresee any issues with it. It has been moody in the IM10, but both my leathers have. They have THE worst attitudes out of any of my corals.

2

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Really cool concept! Looking forward to seeing it progress. I envy those people who have a cat that stays hidden, only seen in rare glimpses and only appears directly in your path when you stumble through the house in the dark. Guess we both know what it is like to have one that has to get into everything. Good luck with the tank.

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Really cool concept! Looking forward to seeing it progress. I envy those people who have a cat that stays hidden, only seen in rare glimpses and only appears directly in your path when you stumble through the house in the dark. Guess we both know what it is like to have one that has to get into everything. Good luck with the tank.

Thanks! My wife was mentioning getting a second cat this morning....

2 minutes ago, Friendly said:

so Salty...with the strings suspending the rock...they'll come out any time you life the lid?

Yeap no other way around it. Unless I went the did route and that would be tough and would probably be really visible. I dont see a need to get in this tank too often so it doesn't seem like a huge issue. Also, I can remove the rocks from the lid and place them in the tank for any reason. Then re-attach strings to the lid very easily.

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But here is a doodle that I made when imagining the toadstool island. Notice the complex shading and Hi-Liter highlights.

This was a pretty busy weekend and I was away from home for the most part. I figured I could keep soft cycling.

Week 1 Achievements

This was NOT a busy weekend for the pico.

Added more bacteria

Did a 100% waterchange

Did NOT test for anything

The only fail this week was getting that fishing line back on the lid after the water change. Luckily I work in the rubber industry so I snagged some pieces that I can use to secure the line to the lid.

Cat Encounters!

WE ARE STILL UNDETECTED

Though, he did try to swat my salt off the scale when I was measuring for the water change...then he hit me on the head twice... I think he is starting to like me?

Next Week’s Goals (definitely not the same as last week)

Build lighting stand

Fine tune aquascape

Test out some gel filters

Add some GSP?!?!?!

Shout outs

Shout out to all the other builds out there. Too many to keep track but they look great. Looking forward to being in the competition with everyone. Some great ideas and builds happening out there.

@skibum513 already has some anemones and a Catalina Goby! My wife and I took our last anniversary on Catalina island but I did not see that beauty. Really looking forward to seeing this tank mature.

@cnseekatz & @Droy008 both executions for the out of water landscapes mixed with the air plants is awesome. You guys have me re-thinking my overly simplistic plan.

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The cycle continues! Or starts? I added 2 ppm of ammonia to the tank over the weekend. It did not cycle ANY Nitrates within 12 hours. Looks like I will be taking it slow. I feel so behind these already beautiful tanks.

Someone also asked for an air plant shot. I had some left over from our wedding in July. I really enjoy the blue of this light. Makes the floating islands look more like an alien planet.

Week 2 Achievements

Ammonia cycling started (LR rubble was not enough I guess)

Added a rubber clasp to secure fishing lines to lid

Added another acrylic tab to ensure lid does not fall in anymore

Wire/equipment management

Started on the stand - sneak peak on the main pattern to the right

THE LID FELL IN AND WHEN I PUT MY HAND IN THE WATER OVERFLOWED ONTO THE DESK. I immediately grabbed a piece of scrap acrylic and glued it onto the lid. I was over it.

Cat Encounters!

Floki is still more interested in drinking from the live plant tank than the pico. Let’s hope it stays that way. Here are some pictures of him sleeping and playing with Siri.

Next Week’s Goals

Finish stand

Test out some gel filters (ordered new ones since the ones I got sucked)

Corals? Hopefully, but probably not.

Cut the 3rd rock to make it smaller? Still undecided if I want to do this.

Follow me on Instagram @saltymelin if you want to see my IM10 and other updates before I put them on here!

7

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New update coming soon. Hope to have the stand/display plate done in the next few days. Went to the LFS and got a decent amount of GSP AND it was not even attached to anything. Perfect for this little tank.

I did get the gel filters and they make a HUGE difference. I will post some pictures when I get a chance.

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Thanks for the reminder. Ill get you a shot of my empty tank when I get back home

No rush! You still have about a week. I just wanted to remind everyone since we just decided how we were going to handle the FTS's and I wasn't sure if everyone would see my post in the contest thread.